“They were excited about it, and happy to oblige. We’ll need a certificate of insurance, and to hand over our training credentials.” Which Julian didn’t have yet. “And the price they mentioned for renting out the pool was very reasonable.”
“It sounds like it’s going to work out for you,” she responded carefully, not meeting his eye.
Yeah.Julian was now pretty certain there was something wonky about Petula and water. He’d find out what that was, eventually.
For now, he brought the conversation back around to her. “You haven’t told me about your Friday, yet, and why it had you grimacing.”
She laughed, and her demeanor lightened. “Okay Fine. You got me. Going for coffee with you was actually the highlight of my day,” she told him.
Julian liked that a lot as he sat back to listen.
“I started my shift by having tocompletelyreload my van because some newbie had done it backwards.” She explainedhow things had to be stacked according to her route, and it immediately made sense to Julian. He figured that new employee might not be long for UPS if he didn’t have the brains to understand that.
“Then, once I was underway, I hit a pothole and got a flat. It took our maintenance crew over an hour to get me back up and running, and that’s not the end of it.”
Their breakfast sandwiches came, and after his first bite, Julian was an instant convert.
“Holy crap, this is good,” he said, swallowing his first bite. “Who would have known?”
“Told you,” she preened, and delicately bit into hers, giving a moan.
Damn. He’d love to hear that noise coming from her in a different setting, but…
He managed to control his thoughts. “Uh, so what else went wrong?”
“Nothing yet. But my supervisor told me I have to stay late on Monday night for a yearly review.” She pouted heartily.
Julian’s ears perked up. He might be able to work with that.
“I never asked. Whatareyour regular work hours?” he asked, “in case you’ll agree to something other than a breakfast meet-up with me.” He gave what he hoped was his most innocent smile.
“Eight-thirty to four-thirty,” she told him, returning his grin. “AndmaybeI’ll say yes to that. But it won’t be Monday. I probably won’t get home much before seven that night, which sucks.” Her face screwed up again.
It might suck for her, but for Julian, not so much.
He was scheduled to work until four on Monday—Diver Downeast’s normal closing time—which meant he could easily make it to the address Tex had given him and have a talk with a currently work-idle Statler, well before Petula got home.
“I feel for you,” Julian replied, showing just the right amount of sympathy.
They moved on to discuss other, lighter topics, such as favorite bands and movies, but while doing so, Julian’s brain was forming a plan.
He’d need to think carefully about just what he’d say to Petula’s brother, when he mostdefinitelyvisited Statler on Monday night.
CHAPTER 10
Before takingher leave of Julian, Petula took a big step. She agreed to exchange phone numbers. It was huge for her, as no one but Statler, his crew, and her office had her contact info. But the move felt right, and seeing Julian’s beaming smile once it was done, went a long way toward settling down any butterflies she might have had.
When he walked her to her car and opened the door again like a gentleman, he promised to call her Monday night so they could set up another time to get together.
That prospect actually had her excited.
Who knew, even a week ago, that she’d be making such strides in her personal life?
Once on the road and driving home, Petula understood it was time to make things right withStatler’ssituation.
After his terse reaction and his devastating comment the previous night, he hadn’t said another word, but had stormed off. Petula hadn’t seen him for the rest of the evening. When she’d left this morning, he was still nowhere to be seen, although she knew he was still on the property because his vehicle hadn’t left its spot.
He was obviously ghosting her on purpose, and that wouldn’t do.
